In the first instance I want to get my very old, but otherwise frequency counter up and running again. The counter did have a reference oscillator locked to the old transmitter frequency of the national long wave station of 245kHz, which moved to 243kHz in order to comply with the new frequency grid. The reference frequency of the counter is 1MHz, generated by a crystal oscillator, which cannot now be locked to the standard. A new reference oscillator is therefore needed. The counter does have an input for an external 1MHz reference.
When I last tested the counter, the frequency adjustment range of the oscillator had deteriorated, so it could not be adjusted to the correct frequency, so I decided to generate an external frequency.
The intention is to use a oven controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) which can then be calibrated occasionally with the Rubidium standard, or maybe later, with a GPSDO reference.
In order to test the OCXO an even better reference is needed. so I found my surplus rubidium (Rb)standard and tested it for the first time. I do not know its exact frequency (well 10MHz), but I could see the classic frequency sweep for some minutes, and after some cycles it locked into place.
So now I have a stable 10MHz reference, which should probably be calibrated, but I will use it as it is for now.
The first OCXO needs a 5V supply, and the Rb but at the test bench I had only one variable supply and a fixed 13.8V supply. I then built a quick 5 and 9V supply, using two DC/DC buck converters. All went into a small plastic box, normally used for interconnections in electric installations. The voltage into the converters can be from 12 - 30V, so I connected it to the 13.8V supply, the variable lab Power supply was then available to provide power for the Rb standard-
In order to compare the frequency I connected the two oscillators to my 2 channel scope, triggered by the Rb standard (Ch1) and connected the OCXO to Ch2, after letting them warm up for an hour or two.
Of course, the signal from the OCXO will then move across the screen, because its frequency is different from the Rb standard. The trick is then to change the control voltage of the OCXO until the signal moves as slowly as possible across the screen.
I managed to adjust it to move across one period, taking 3min:40sec (220sec). This corresponds to a frequency difference of less than 5mHz (yes, *milli*Hertz), but it was still drifting a bit.
However, this is quite acceptable, because the OCXO was just lying on the test bench, and not even insulated. A well insulated OCXO should be sufficiently stable for my amateur use (when placed indoors), even up to 10GHz equipment.
What next? I think I should build one of the OCXOs into a box (w/insulation), then add some buffering for the 10MHz signal, so a few output signals can be generated, as well as a "converter" for generating a 25MHx signal for control of an LNB, and finally a divider for generating a 1MHz signal.
The intention for the 25MHz signal is using a divide-by-two (5MHz), then extract the 5th harmonic, and voilá ... 25MHz. A square-wave conversion circuit followed by a good filter is probably a good idea.
Oh!, and testing the other OCXOs need to be done, too
All in all this was a few productive days, getting more test equipment up and running. Always enough projects to do here.
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